About me
White girl from Belarus, living in Saudi Arabia
International student (private British curriculum school)
Intended major: Econ
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
Unweighted GPA: 4.0 (I’m in the British curriculum so it’s very different lol but that’s what it translates to)
Class Rank: 1/160
SAT Scores: 1550 (790 maths, 760 EBRW)
Coursework
Economics, History, Maths, Biology + EPQ (like a research paper / mini-dissertation that you write in a year)
Awards
Finalist for an international award (0.625% of people who applied were finalists)
Full scholarship for my private school in my sophomore and senior year (one of them was a national scholarship, the other is a school-level scholarship)
$6k scholarship to do one of those research programs with a Barnard professor
Gold at a maths olympiad + highest in school
Gold in biology olympiad
2nd at a regional (i.e. all of eastern europe) team debate competition
1st in two national debate competitions (won team + overall individual)
1st in an international debate competition (team & overall individual)
Most improved in varsity basketball x2
Highest score in my school for GCSEs (a bunch of exams you do in sophomore year)
Highest score for GCSE history
Highest score for GCSE French
Student of the year (from the director of the school) x3
Extracurriculars
Medium-prestigious economics summer camp at BU
4 years - Varsity basketball
4 years - Varsity debate
2 years - president of debate society
2 years - JV squad of Belarus’ national team in debating
3.5 years - founder of a girl’s debate society at my school
4 years - study-related instagram (50k followers) and blog (20k all-time visitors)
2.5 years - study youtube (10k subs)
0.5 years - did econ research w/a professor and published it in a minor academic journal
1.5 years - made a study app to help students (1k downloads)
Essays/LORs/Other
History teacher - 9/10
Econ teacher - 8/10
Bio teacher (for MIT, instead of history) - 9/10
Debate coach - 6/10
Professor I did research with - 5/10
Schools all RD
Barnard College
Boston College
Boston University
Brown University
Columbia University
Cornell University
Dartmouth College
Harvard University
Massachusetts Institute of Tech.
Northeastern University
Princeton University
Stanford University
Tufts University
University of Chicago
University of Pennsylvania
Yale University
You’re a very strong candidate and you could see some acceptances from this list. You could also have none. Not a knock on you in any way, but that’s just the college admissions landscape these days.
Curious why you didn’t apply EA to any of the schools that offer it.
I know, I got really confused when reading about EA/ED and by the time I realised the difference it was too late
I remember reading that Northeastern’s acceptance rate is 7% and might be 3% this year, so Northeastern might also be a reach at this point Thank you for the help!
You’re a superlative applicant.
Everything you’ve manqged to do as a foreigner and a girl in Saudi Arabia is especially remarkable.
I’d say the Math/Econ ALevels and likely A/A*s position you well at MIT but none of the schools are predictable.
Surprised not to see 1-2 from Wellesley/Smith/Scripps since you have Barnard.
Any reason you didn’t apply to Williams - too small?
If you’re AAA/A*AA you’ll get into a bunch of UK universities. Assuming Oxbridge, LSE, etc. Have already sent out interview invitations or decisions (respectively).
Did you apply to Trinity Dublin/UCD too (as a safety - you can apply to anything 500+ and you have +25pts from maths ALevels. Desdline Jan 20.)
Fact is, no one can be said to have a good shot at any college on your list. It’s entirely unpredictable. I imsgine you’ll get into quite a few because your profile is exactly what they’d want but “unpredictable” is…just that.
You didn’t mention whether your parents can contribute financially and how much -that always trumps qualifications. If they have 100k and xam admit 4 exceptional students who need a 25k scholarhip, or 1 who needs a full ride+1 who can afford 75k, well, you’re better off if your parents can afford 60 to 75k a year.
This is a VERY top heavy list…even for a student with your stats. I don’t see any college on this list that is a sure thing for admission.
Did you just make a list of the top whatever colleges? That’s what this list looks like.
My opinion…there is not a sure thing for admission for you as an international student here. I’m hoping you have the financial resources to pay for college…and a sure thing for admission and affordability someplace.
You might get accepted and you might not. These colleges reject a large number of very well qualified students. You have a chance of acceptance…but it’s not high.
Read this thread…all of it. It’s an older thread but the message is the same. This student in this thread was an extremely strong student and not international. Also admissions in 2005 was less competitive. He was class val, NMF, excellent LORs, excellent ECs and no one expected him to be shut out of all admissions his senior year of high school…but he was. Like you, he had all very highly competitive for admissions colleges on the list. Please read the whole thread. This kid landed on his feet quite well…but he had a horrible end to his last year of high school. You don’t want this to be you.
Looks like she has safeties in the UK and is reaching for the top in the US. That’s an acceptable strategy.
Of course, OP’s budget (not yet specified) will affect her chances.
If this OP really wants to attend college in the U.S., they need to have some sort of sure thing for admission and affordable… here. Otherwise, they are applying to a ton of reach schools with no certainty of admission…
And especially considering they sound like they have financial need…
Yeah i knew that question could come, it’s because of financial aid reasons
The above being the reason they didn’t apply ED anywhere.
When 9 out of 10 domestic students with strong academics and achievements can’t be accepted, the factors that lead one college to offer acceptance and another one not, are usually not obvious to anyone - and likely rooted in the demographics of whom else that each college already accepted, and the demographics of the remaining application pool.
Basically, you are as strong a candidate as any, and thus might see some acceptances, but there’s no meaningful way to predict from which college(s) – even knowing that some have higher RD acceptance rates than others.
Which shrinks your list somewhat, since you are an international student:
A few colleges are “need blind” and “meet need” for international students,
others might meet financial need, but have limited means to do so. For those college, the amount your family can pay will factor into the admission decision.
Some only offer financial aid to domestic students!
Based on your intended major of economics, these analyses may help you with college selection as your decisions arrive, or offer you ideas should you be considering adding to your current list:
My bet is you will be accepted to several US universities even though your list is mostly reach, with the only question being whether they provide sufficient financial support
